Marsha Lynn Smith

Marsha Lynn Smith is a writer living in Southern California. After a career in the music and television industries, she is completing her memoir about a rocky romance with a jazz musician, juggling single motherhood, and her adventures as a Hollywood publicist. She managed publicity for the legendary Stevie Wonder during the time he rallied public and government support to make Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday. As a television publicist, she launched PR campaigns for primetime network TV series, including the NAACP Image Awards’ Outstanding Comedy Series black-ish and the Emmy Award–winning Shark Tank. In addition to being a member of Sisters With Books, she is a volunteer with WriteGirl, a nonprofit organization empowering teen girls through creative writing, and is a voting member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. She was born in Chicago, Illinois, and holds a BA in Communication Arts from Loyola Marymount University and a master’s in Humanities from Cal State University, Dominguez Hills. She is also the winner of the 2020 Anne C. Barnhill Prize for Creative Nonfiction.

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